Thursday, 4 a.m.
For a long time, baseball observers have acknowledged that Junior Caminero is the future of the Tampa Bay Rays.
For that matter, he’s the present, too.
Caminero launched two home runs Wednesday afternoon, his 29th and 30th of the season, to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a rare (lately) series win over the Los Angelos Angels.
It was a hard win, one that featured power bats and power arms by the Rays.
The highlights?
— In the eighth inning, down by one run, the Angels loaded the bases on an infield hit, a walk and catcher’s interference. But newly acquired Griffin Jax struck out the side to get out of trouble.
— In the seventh inning, light-hitting Christopher Morel broke a 4-4 tie with a home run to left field. He had been 0-for-6 with six strikeouts in the series.
— Newly acquired catcher Nick Fortes homered.
— In the ninth inning, Jake Mangum made a diving catch to set up Pete Fairbanks’ 19th save.
— The bullpen went five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
Caminero and Brandon Lowe each had two hits.
The Rays are off today. They play the Mariners in Seattle on Friday at 9:40 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Luis Castillo.